The Ministry of Finance stated that there is no money for Mykolaiv in the state treasury, but promised Sienkevych that they would look into the matter

Mayor of Mykolaiv Oleksandr Sienkevych. Photo: NikVesti

Mayor of Mykolaiv Oleksandr Sienkevych said that the Ministry of Finance will study the state of the city budget for up to four months in order to justify the need for additional funding from the state budget.

He said this in an interview on the Dialogue programme on TRK MART.

Back in January, the mayor announced that he would travel to Kyiv to defend the city's need for a 1.1 billion hryvnias subsidy.

The meeting with Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko took place on 26 February. The mayor noted that the city authorities had provided the Ministry of Finance with updated calculations of revenues and expenditures. According to him, budget revenues have increased slightly, in particular thanks to tax payments by city residents and the attraction of extra-budgetary funds. However, this is not enough to cover growing expenses.

«Communication cannot be very fast. As always, at the meeting with Serhii Mykhailovych, I received information that there is no money for Mykolaiv in the state treasury. We understand that this concerns not only the Minister of Finance, who is actually balancing the budget, but also a political decision, because somewhere the money has to come from. We have prepared information showing the changes in our budget and expenditures. Our revenues have increased slightly, and I would like to thank the people of Mykolaiv, the taxpayers who continue to work and pay taxes even in difficult times. Part of their money goes to the Mykolaiv budget. We also attract extra-budgetary funds, deal with privatisation issues, and save a lot of money on energy efficiency measures. But this is not enough. The minimum wage has increased, as have expenditures on the maintenance of buildings and structures, and payments for gas, water, and electricity. We also have loan payments coming due: the World Bank for the regional heating company, the EBRD for the water utility and electric transport, and the EIB for public transport,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

The mayor added that the largest consumer of budget funds is the water utility, whose operations require additional funding of 50-60 million hryvnias per month.

He added that work with the Ministry of Finance will continue for up to four months. During this time, experts will study the situation and conclude whether Mykolaiv really has a critical need for funds.

«The Minister of Finance gave me the contact details of the person who will be dealing with Mykolaiv. They will study our budget and how municipal enterprises use money. Our task is to work out every penny in the budget and prove that we do not have enough money. Of course, there will be a number of decisions, including political ones, and when they turn to the minister and ask whether Mykolaiv really needs money or whether it is Sienkevych who is complaining, he will say that we have been working and that they need a certain amount. I think this work may take 3-4 months,» the mayor noted.

We will remind you that during a staff meeting on 2 March, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych stated that the city's budget for 2026 lacks funds even for salaries and utility payments. Because of this, the question of which projects to finance first «will be very acute».

There is not enough money in Mykolaiv's budget. What is known?

The Mykolaiv City Council has appealed to the government and parliament to provide an additional subsidy from the state budget. According to the city's calculations, its own budget revenues for 2026 are only enough to cover 82.5% of its actual needs, and the financial resource deficit exceeds 1 billion 140 million hryvnias.

In total, budget revenues for 2026 amount to 5 billion 546 million hryvnias, while total budget expenditures amount to 5 billion 275 million 353 thousand 815 hryvnias.

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych stressed that the budget for 2026 is in fact a survival budget and does not cover all the needs of the community. In particular, the Mykolaiv budget does not have the funds to increase teachers' salaries, as initiated by the state.

Deputies also appealed to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Cabinet of Ministers with a demand to increase salaries for cultural workers. The document refers to the critically low level of wages in the cultural sector.

Instead, the government raised the base salary for cultural workers to 3,470 hryvnias. The Mykolaiv authorities said they would look for money in the budget to pay bonuses.

In addition to paying salaries, the city budget also lacks funds for routine and major road repairs, according to Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych. For example, the municipal enterprise ELU Avtodorig received about 80 million hryvnias less than it should have from the budget.

At the same time, during a staff meeting on 2 March, the director of the City Council's Capital Construction Department, Oleksii Savchuk, said that there is currently no funding for the repair of the reception department of City Hospital №3.

«Currently, there is no funding for the reception department of Hospital №3,» he said.

And during a staff meeting on 2 March, Hennadii Iziumov, director of the municipal enterprise Mykolaivvodokanal, said that the enterprise needs additional funds for road asphalting work after the removal of potholes.

«We have more than 560 orders for asphalting, which have been pending since 2023. I wanted to discuss with you separately the possibility of additional funding to close these 'tails',» said Hennadii Iziumov.

Currently, the city authorities are preparing to reallocate 313 million hryvnias of free funds.